The Slap

December 8, 2012

“Nobody could ever accuse me of raising a fist to a woman I’m not that kind of man, I’d never punch a woman”. People nodded at those kind words and recognised him as a fair and honest man. (The sound of the slap rung out sharp and clear silencing all other sounds). In the pub he was funny, thrashed everyone at pool and always stood his round. (The bruise from a hard slap from a large man is painfully huge).
They said he was a mans man, his missus was quiet though everyone thought she was stuck up, for example she never came up the pub with him, (nobodies wives came to this pub unless they were slappers) probably thought she was too good for the local. The other wives at the school gates thought she was stuck up too, her kids were well-behaved though boisterous. She took them to the playground everyday perhaps they were spoiled? (the playground served two purposes, it prolonged her sense of freedom which ended once she entered her house and if the children exhausted themselves outside they would be quiet at home).He was a proud family man and a good father, he didn’t talk about them much but one of his favorite phrases was “They take after me” as a toast.(She tried not to cry, tried not to make a sound incase it woke them, scared they might see).
He was proud of his wife, she was a proper little housewife he even boasted about how obedient she was, how much she loved him, in the pub he always drunk a toast to that.(It was like a game, pretend to be or to be actually asleep when he rolled in drunk sometimes worked, sometimes awake to prepare food worked, second guessing his mood was exhausting getting it wrong was painful). Everyone was a little envious of his Mrs who would get up at 2am to make him food, she even cooked for his mates with no complaints. (Though it was noticed that Dan and Rob two of his best mates didn’t go round there anymore, so maybe she wasn’t always that friendly? It looked to some as though they tried to avoid him sometimes, but they didn’t pay it much mind, it wasn’t their business).
(The sound of the slap rang out loud and clear silencing all other sounds).He was shocked the day he came home and found out she wasn’t there and more so when she didn’t come back, she had nowhere to go, he’d find her at her families houses and she had no close friends. She must have run off with someone. The Bitch must have been cheating on him! Where else would she have found the courage to leave him, she was gutless, but she was gone.
He tried to remember what had happened last night when he got home from the pub, one of the littluns had been awake crying, ill she said, hang on a minute she said. he had been hungry and the kid really did need to shut up. The sound of the slap had rung out and left him with silence, he poured himself a drink as he decided how to find them and get them back.

"I have long argued that the giving of offence, and even hate speech, should be a moral matter but not a matter for the criminal law. That is as true on the football pitch as on the streets. We should always challenge racism. We should also always challenge attacks on liberties in the guise of faux antiracism." Kenan Malik